On the surface, this looks like a deck built around Goblins. The Goblins are, in fact, a decoy. Get a few out and claim some territory. Opponents get nervous and will try to kill them... let them. Don't defend unless you occupy a blue space. Trade away your Goblins on other-colored spaces. Grab bigger, better, more useful creatures, preferably on blue. Blue spaces will be important down the line when you reveal the true nature of your kill... that is, Kelpie. After getting a solid chain featuring Sea Bonze, Poseidon, and recently Trade-napped fatties, a leveled-up Kelpie will be very hard to kill, yet also difficult to avoid.

Trade plays a key important role in this deck. It is the T in the deck's name. Steal your opponent's blue territories. Steal his fat creatures. Steal the creatures with great abilities. Again, let him kill the Goblins and let him try to turn back and kill the creatures that you have selfishly pilfered with this amazing card, Trade. Then, drop a level 4 or 5 Kelpie on his head to put you over the top for the win.

Where/When It's Good:

GoT Kelpie? is consistent on maps from medium to large in size. It does require some space to set up, and needs at least enough time to get a blue chain, preferably of 4 or 5. The deck should consistently win when the goal is at or above 8000 points. At 6000, it will still dominate in 1 on 1, but in 4-player games you may be outrun.

Card Choices:

Granite Idol (4) Goblin's Lair's biggest predator is Suppression. We absolutely cannot be bothered with hand disruption if we are to hold cards like Goblin's Lair, Trade, and Find. Granite Idol will prevent Suppression, Capture and Crusher, but will also keep us free from G drains and other annoyances. Just having one in play will effectively make a high percentage of your opponents' cards useless.

Clay Idol (3) This fills 3 roles: One is to avoid the always-painful mass destruction of your troops. Like any deck based on creatures, you may be susceptible to Tempests, Zeromns, and Peludas. Secondly, it will cause an opponent to use 2 separate spells to kill your more-important Granite Idol, should he be so hell-bent on doing so. Third, if the first two do not seem to be threats against a particular opponent, then Clay makes fantastic Trade bait.

Red Cap (2) Any deck that contains any amount of Goblin's Lair has to have at least 2 Red Caps by default. These will beef up defenses and will also act as a secondary win, should you need to take down any territories you cannot Trade for. An early Red Cap also further commits your opponent to the notion that they are dealing with a standard Goblin strategy.

Sea Bonze (3) Does this really need any explanation? He's big, he's blue, he's a huge pain in the ass. On top of that, there are still newer players that simply have no idea and will waste resources to try and kill it.

Poseidon (2) Since the deck is somewhat reactive, it needs to ensure that when opponents do land on our precious blue links, we retain them. This is especially true late game when the Kelpie is fully powered. Poseidon helps you get around scrolls and keeps the Kelpie beefy, even after he has taken a couple of damaging attacks. Poseidon and Redcap will put your defending gobs to 40/70 even though we are not running Borgess. (Yes, I realize Poseidon will not raise your defending Sea Bonze… whoop-de-doo!)

Kelpie (3) (AKA: The Stick) Here is your likely win, most games. Kelpie will force your opponents to either fight or pay up, ideally both. You have eight solid items to defend him against damage and Poseidon to beat scrolls. You will want a Land Protection on Kelpie as soon as possible. He will instantly become the lone target on the board.

Counter Amulet (4) Use these sparingly; they are intended to protect only key squares. You should be able to hoard until late game if your Granite Idols hold up. If you do need to take a nice, juicy blue space, you can use the Counter Amulet to conquer in some instances.

Gaseous Form (4) For the same reasons as the Counter Amulet, use these only when absolutely necessary. Kelpie will thank you later!

Trade (4) As discussed earlier, this is a big part of your strategy. Since you are powering through your deck with Finds and Reincarnations, you may get off 6-8 Trades over the course of a longer game. If a dangerous Lightning Dragon hits the board, take it! If someone has a Sea Bonze of their own, jack it! There's seemingly always a Spud Folk or Lichenoid in play... also great targets! Be prepared to raise the land values of your goblins when necessary so you can Trade for creatures that have already been powered up.

Goblin's Lair (4) This is our decoy. Place the bait and let your opponents ramp up to do some Goblin hunting! Hopefully they expend G and resources to do so, right before drop more powerful blue threats. Normally Goblin's Lair would be subjected to Theft, Crusher, and Suppression. Your Granite Idol will keep it safe and sound in your hand.

Land Protection (4) Sea Bonze, Red Cap, and Kelpie are all among the most-targeted cards in all of Culdcept. Keeping them and keeping them healthy will allow the deck to work and win. As we are seeing increasingly, you will face other players with as many as 4 Trades in their own deck. You can't afford to lose a Kelpie to such a fate. Consider Land Protecting a Granite Idol if you see lots of Magic Bolts and Banishing Ray.

Reincarnation (3) Simple: If you do not have a Granite Idol in play, or a Goblin's Lair in your hand, Reincarnate so you can get there as quickly as possible. After you have both, then these become sacrificial to discard.

Telegnosis (2) The most versatile spell in the game, this will let you do any number of things throughout the contest. The most obvious are 1) raising Kelpies and Sea Bonzes, and 2) switching in and out creatures as needed.

Manna (3) Can't do much without G.

Fairy Light (2) Ditto.

Alternative Options/Almost Made It:

Relief: It would be nice to drop a Sea Bonze and quickly fast track him to a blue spot already claimed by a Goblin. Sink: Blue territories are pretty important to the strategy. Petrify Stone: Are you seeing more scrolls than you should? Quicksand: Sure, Kelpie has it built-in, but what about your Sea Bonze? Fame: Instead of Manna? Trespass: Instead of Manna or Fairy Light? Domovikha: Land Protection is pretty important in this deck.

P.S. note I run no E spells... Keeping it Real!

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